I mean, does keeping one of those pets bug you because you don't know enough well-adjusted people who do it, or is there another reason?

Dunno...I've been pondering what it is that bugs me about it. I think, at its base, is the distinction between wild and domesticated animals. I'm looking at the boundary cases right now - cats who are mousers and live with people; zoos; wild animal refuges and rehab places.

But it could just be that the guys (always men; you'd be an outlier) I've known that had big snakes or fish or dogs they fed live prey to got off on the killing. The folks with little snakes, who either fed them bugs or freeze-dried mice, viewed that as an unpleasantness, but were into the snake for its snakiness.

I return to my introspection.

I hear you're a hurricane now Emily.

Oh, well, it's old hat by now. I think they're just too lazy to think up other girl names starting with E. For a while in college I kept a clipping about Emily causing massive property damage on the East coast.

I've heard from some snake owners that their snakes won't eat dead prey because they think it must be diseased.

This is my favourite t-shirt ever. Sadly, it's not for me to wear, and it would even be a little odd for me to buy it for someone else.

Raquel, I'd be in a middle ground of "that's what they do." If it were unpleasant, I'd not do it at all.

In other fun news, there was a picture in my free paper this morning of robot camel jockeys -- I guess they used to use kids, but have cracked down on that, so now they have ROBOTS!!

The glarkware shirts are always funny. But the aweso one totally is for Jesse.

My friend with the picky python actually had 3 snakes. Sybil was the only one who wouldn't eat predeaded stuff. Of course, she also tried to eat my friend once, mistaking her fingers for mice. She was a kind of psychotic snake. She'd sometimes go into hunt mode despite being recently fed. It was odd to see her try to go after the guinea pigs, which were in large tank. She'd try to wrap herself around the pig through the glass. I don't think she understood glass. The pigs were used to the snakes, so they didn't freak out.

They also had cats, a couple large shaggy dogs, a pony and goats. It was kind of a zoo.

eta: Hee! on the shirt. Of course, wouldn't be wise to wear that to a rural post office when trying to mail something to NM. Might get hit with international rates.

More cat news --

Max had his teeth cleaned yesterday. Apparently had several lesions in his mouth.

We were told to keep him away from the other kitties because he might still be groggy (when a cat gets teeth cleaned, anesthesia is involved....). We tried, but that didn't last long.

On the bright side, his appetite has become much more healthy. He ate more at dinner last night than he had in quite some time (and kept it down -- a concern when coming off anesthesia). And begged some fish from our dinner.

Raquel, I'm not sure what would happen if you wore this one: [link]

You know, up until now, this was just an Urban Legend.

In other fun news, there was a picture in my free paper this morning of robot camel jockeys

I saw that in my local freebi as well! Just the phrase, Robot Camel Jockeys, needs to be a name of a band.

About pets eating pets, I suspect that the domesticated/wild distinction is intended in part to cover this question. In MA, you can't have a pet that is wild, or within X number generations of wild. Ferrets and I think snakes are not legal pets, as well as things like alligators and tigers and bears. (The x generations of wild is for hybrids: if you breed your housecat to a lynx, its offspring are still not considered domesticated.) Since most of the domesticated animals kill prey only rarely, the pets eating pets issue is almost moot.

(I actually don't know whether mice and rats are considered domesticated pets in this state. But the fact is, cats have not been classified as vermin species-wide for a long time, whereas, anybody who rides public transit probably still thinks of mice/rats as vermin.)

Vermin, vermin, vermin. What a cool word.